World Bowl X Signups (American Football)(CLOSED)

[Silver Beach]

I would like to also sign up for the baptism of iron

[Old Cola]

Old Cola signs up (1st time!) We'd also like to sign up for the Baptism of Iron


What's the ruling on Puppets, btw?

[Dancougar]

The Izraali Empire places a hosting bid for both.

Actually, no, it doesn't look like you have. Please read through the opening post in this thread again and consider looking at old tournament threads as well to get a feel for what hosting requires. Please go to the discussion thread if you have additional questions.

What's the ruling on Puppets, btw?

In the past, puppets have been used to make up numbers so that the tournament doesn't start with an odd number of teams, but there is no general policy. I'll poke the discussion thread and see if we can make some kind of ruling; for the moment, assume that puppets will not be accepted.

[Pokemonman]

I will sign up for World Bowl X

[Old Cola]

What's the ruling on Puppets, btw?

In the past, puppets have been used to make up numbers so that the tournament doesn't start with an odd number of teams, but there is no general policy. I'll poke the discussion thread and see if we can make some kind of ruling; for the moment, assume that puppets will not be accepted.

Take me off then, I'm Whittoria's puppet.

[Whittoria]

What's the ruling on Puppets, btw?

In the past, puppets have been used to make up numbers so that the tournament doesn't start with an odd number of teams, but there is no general policy. I'll poke the discussion thread and see if we can make some kind of ruling; for the moment, assume that puppets will not be accepted.

Take me off then, I'm Whittoria's puppet.

Indeed he is.

[Queer Poco el Mono Ara]

errrm... yeah, sign us up and we'll take a stab at that baptism of iron thingy too

[The Fanboyists]

Back (sort of) from my little breakie from NS.

Volunteers back in! And I won't change the team's name this time around!

[Bluth Corporation]

In.

[Tazzioli]

can I signup?

[Sibirsky]

The Sibirsky Capitalizt return to the World Bowl.

[Dancougar]

can I signup?

You certainly can, and you're also eligible for the Baptism of Iron. Signups updated through Sibirsky.

[Vephrall]

Yeesh, I'm behind with these signup threads this week.

Vephrall in.

[Steroga]

In for more despair.

[Secristan]

Millionaires back.

[Rennidan]

Brutes in.

[Amalfi and Capri]

Amalfi would like to sign up, also if I could sign up to a baptism of Iron as well that'd be great

[Dancougar]

Dancougar Bid for World Bowl X
Get back on the grid.

Formerly a world power in American football, Dancougar remains the only nation to have won multiple tournaments after taking three of the first six. Now with the game spreading to all corners of the world and bringing new talents to the fore, Dancougar's commitment to the growth of international gridiron has led to a bid to host its second tournament. Its previous hosting duties were in World Bowl VII, which involved a mashup of rankings and some hasty decisions that may or may not sit well with all involved. Yet somehow the association managed to get itself elected to the World Bowl presidency in the aftermath. We're still trying to wrap our heads around that one.

Hosting Experience: On the gridiron front, my only hosting experience was the aforementioned World Bowl VII, although I have also hosted three NSWC events (Baptism of Fire 31, Cup of Harmony 36 with Cafundeu, and Cup of Harmony 38 alone) and all five International Basketball Championships. Related to hosting experience, Dancougar has made modifications to the popular Java scorinator NSFootySim to support American football, rugby union, and rugby league, based on an algorithm developed and manually used by Newmanistan. These modifications have been used to host tournaments in those sports since their release. I also wrote basketsim, which has been used in all five IBCs and remains woefully unsupported and near the bottom of my priority list. It should be admitted that prior qualification rounds have started with problems before getting smoothed out later.

Scorination: I plan to use NSFootySim 2.0.7.2 with gridiron modifications, conveniently available for your own perusal via my signature or Vephrall's. The rank input to NSFS will be a combination of pre-World Bowl team rank (as calculated by The Babbage Islands and based on Arroza's formula) and accumulated roleplay bonus.

RP Bonus: Roleplays will be graded on a scale which awards 0-3 points to each in-character post based on quality, creativity, and any other positive descriptors normally associated with roleplays. All roleplays between matchday N-1 and matchday N will contribute to your RP bonus for matchday N, so while you can spam the thread as much as you want, all of your posts will be taken as a single roleplay and judged accordingly. RP bonus also decays over time to encourage participation throughout the tournament, and cumulative bonus is defined by the formula CB(N) = RP(N) + 0.7 CB(N-1). This formula converges on a maximum value of 10 points, which is half of the current maximum ranking (Tocrowkia at 20.00). This means that RP can be a decisive factor in match results, although it should be noted that bonus merely increases your chances of playing well; it is not a guarantee.

Style Modifiers: Style modifiers will be used, ranging from -3 (most defensive) to +3 (most attacking). Teams are free to specify this in their roster post and may change it ONCE during the tournament with an accompanying RP describing the reason for the switch. This change may occur during qualifiers or the tournament proper. If a team does not specify a style modifier before the first matchday, it will default to zero and can only be modified with their one change.

Tournament Format: We like boring formats.

Qualification: All entered teams will be placed in pots based on world ranking with ties broken by signup order. They will be drawn into an equal number of groups for double round robin home-and-away play . Teams advance to The Proper based on final standings, with tiebreakers being wins, ties, point differential, points scored, head-to-head results, playoff game. At the time of this bid, there are 33 teams signed up. This number has hideous prime factorization so we'll hope more nations sign up. Preferred formats:
* 35 teams: 5 groups of 7, 12 matches. The top three teams from each group and one wild card advance to a 16-team knockout bracket.
* 36 teams: 6 groups of 6, 10 matches. The top two teams from each group and four wild cards advance to a 16-team knockout bracket.
* 40 teams: 8 groups of 5, 8 matches. The top two teams from each group advance to a 16-team knockout bracket.
* 42 teams: 7 groups of 6, 10 matches. The top two teams from each group plus two wild cards advance to a 16-team knockout bracket.
* 45 teams: 9 groups of 5, 8 matches. The top two teams from each group advance. Teams seeded 15-18 will play into a 16-team knockout bracket.
Extrapolating this pattern to a higher number of teams is left as an exercise for the reader.

The Proper: At this stage it will be a series of single-elimination matches played on neutral ground in Dancougar. Several football stadia stadiums will be used for the tournament, with information to follow in the event of a successful bid. The target is always a 16-team bracket, although larger numbers of entries into qualification may make play-in games necessary to reach the desired number. There will also be a third-place game held before the final.

CTE: Nations which cease to exist before the beginning of the World Bowl will not be potted for the group draw. Nations which cease during qualification have until the end of qualification to return or else they will not be eligible for the proper. Teams which cease to exist during the proper will remain in the field until they lose.

Schedule: RP cutoff will normally come around midnight eastern time (now GMT -4 thanks to our good friend Daylight Savings Time) but possibly later on some Fridays and Saturdays. These will be announced ahead of time where possible. Due to pre-existing scheduling constraints, qualification may begin no earlier than April 12. There will be days off at the halfway point of qualification and between the end of qualification and the beginning of the proper. In the event of a successful bid, a full schedule will be announced along with the group draw.

Discussion: Questions and comments may be telegrammed to Dancougar or posted to the World Bowl Discussion Thread. Please refrain from responding in this thread.

[Euroslavia]

Count me in, if it's not too late.

[Sarzonia]

Official Statement
Incorporated Sarzonian Government
Department of Health and Athletics

The Department of Health and Athletics, in consultation with the Incorporated Gridball League and gridball's governing body within Sarzonia, is pleased to announce its bid for the Baptism of Iron in an effort to showcase our talents in hosting a high profile sporting event.

Hosting Experience: The Incorporated States has previously hosted several events. Prior to Isolation and The Great Isolation, Sarzonia was the site of the first-ever AO Bowl competition. In addition, Sarzonia and Pacitalia co-hosted the fourth edition of the Basketball World Cup. Sarzonia has also served as a co-host of the first Futsal World Cup with The Golden Throne.

Since The Great Isolation, Sarzonia has hosted the seventh Handball World Cup, the first competition in that sport since its fourth edition to finish with crowning a champion. In addition, we hosted the sixth World Lacrosse Championships.

Stadia: The Iron Bowl in Portland, Somerset; Hendrix Stadium in Woodstock and The Round Table in Nicksia, Benatar have been confirmed as sites for at least three groups. Other sites would be announced if this bid is the winning bid. More information would then be provided about each stadium and the city surrounding it.

OOC section:
Scorination (including style modifiers): This would be accomplished using the gridiron scorinator developed by the player behind Kura-Pelland. It will allow prospective players to choose offensive, defensive or balanced style based on providing two numbers that must total 100. A team choosing 75 for offence and 25 for defence will be a very aggressive offensive team, but will concede a lot of points. A team that has 10 points for offence and 90 for defence will be anemic offensively but will be a brick wall defensively. A team that allocates 50 for offence and 50 for defence will have balance between the two extremes.

In this instance, I would ask players to stay with the numbers they've chosen for the duration of the Baptism of Iron and not submit any changes. However, if you RP a change in philosophy particularly well and include an OOC request to change your modifiers, I'll likely grant it once.

RP Bonus: Roleplays would be graded on a scale which can award anywhere from zero to five points to each in-character post based on quality and creativity, among other factors. This total will be added to your total points, and a particularly well-written RP can make a difference in the outcome of a match. For example, if Nation A plays Nation B and the score comes out to 16-13, but Nation A wrote a four-point RP and Nation B did not RP at all, the score would be Nation A 17, Nation B 16.

All posts from the same player between Matchday 1 and Matchday 2 will count as a single RP for that player. There is no advantage to posting two or three smaller posts compared to posting a lengthier post. Roleplay bonuses will not carry over from one matchday to the other, so each will be taken as a separate entity. HOWEVER, a cumulative RP score would be used as a possible tiebreaker for the knockout rounds. As a reminder, RPing well does not guarantee you'll win, but it can help your cause.

Format: Varies depending upon the number of teams entered. If 16 teams enter, there will be four groups of four teams each. If it's 20, it's four groups of five teams. If it's 24, it's six groups of four. A group draw will divide the teams into the designated groups and each team will play each opponent from its group ONCE. In the 16- and 20-team formats, the top team from each group will advance to the semifinals. In the 24-team format, the top team from each group and the two remaining teams with the best records will advance to the quarterfinals.

Tiebreakers, in order: 1. Head-to-head result, 2. Point differential, 3. Cumulative RP bonus, 4. Coin toss.

CTE: Teams that cease to exist will not be potted for a group draw. If a nation ceases during the groups stage and it qualifies for the knockouts, its spot will be taken by the team directly below it in the overall table/group table. If a nation ceases to exist through no fault of its own, it will continue through the knockouts until it loses. If a nation is DEATed for rule violations, it will automatically forfeit the next knockout round match.

Ignores/Forfeits: No player may forfeit a match for any reason UNLESS the player has a hard ignore on the team it will face in the next round. If it does, it will be required to forfeit the match. The player ignoring the other player must notify me no later than 12 hours before the scheduled RP cutoff that night. Otherwise, I'm scorinating the match.

Schedule: RP cutoff will take place at approximately 10 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time every night unless I announce otherwise. Scorination will not take place earlier than that unless it's a final or a third place playoff and both teams have already earned the maximum possible RP score. A full schedule would be announced in detail if this is the winning bid.

Discussion: Please direct any comments about this bid to The World Bowl Discussion Thread. If you'd prefer to keep your comments private, please TG them to Callidon. Please do not use this thread to respond to this bid.

We look forward to the opportunity to host one of the world's premier sporting events and we wish all competitors the best of luck.

Carter Marshall
Vice President
Incorporated States of Sarzonia

[Voltronica]

im up for another round if it and this time hopefully i wont disappear in mid-season...i dont think ive been in the BoI yet so if can would like to.

[Delaclava]

im up for another round if it and this time hopefully i wont disappear in mid-season...i dont think ive been in the BoI yet so if can would like to.

You have been in the BoI, and are therefore ineligible for it.

[Voltronica]

im up for another round if it and this time hopefully i wont disappear in mid-season...i dont think ive been in the BoI yet so if can would like to.

You have been in the BoI, and are therefore ineligible for it.

[HunterBradleyLand]

HBL signs up for the World Bowl

[Quattrablegia]

As our Minister of Sport is ill, I personally request that Quattrablegia's national men's American-rules football team be considered to participate in the Baptism of Fire tournament. Our Giraffes are a young but determined team, and strongly desire to take the world stage.

Sincerely
Nathan I
Constitutional Monarchy of Quattrablegia